List of commanders of the British 5th Division

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5th Division
5th Infantry Division
5th Armoured Division
James Leith, by Charles Picart (1780-1837).jpg
Portrait of James Leith, by Charles Picart, the first commanding officer of the 5th Division.
ActiveRaised and disbanded numerous times between 1810 and 2012
CountryFlag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom
Branch Flag of the British Army.svg British Army
Engagements Napoleonic Wars
Second Boer War
First World War
Second World War

The 5th Division was an infantry division of the British Army and was first formed in 1809 and disbanded for the final time in 2012. The division was commanded by a general officer commanding (GOC). In this role, the GOC received orders from a level above him in the chain of command, and then used the forces within the division to undertake the mission assigned. In addition to directing the tactical battle in which the division was involved, the GOC oversaw a staff and the administrative, logistical, medical, training, and discipline of the division. [1]

Contents

Prior to 1809, the British Army did not use divisional formations. As the British military grew in size during the Napoleonic Wars, the need arose for such an implementation in order to better organise forces for administrative, logistical, and tactical reasons. The 5th Division was formed in 1810 by Lieutenant-General Arthur Wellesley, and served in the Peninsular War (part of the Napoleonic Wars).

General officer commanding

General officer commanding
No.Appointment dateRankGeneral officer commandingNotesSource(s)
1April 1810 Major-General James Leith Leith arrived in Portugal, in April 1810, with a brigade of British infantry. These men had come from fighting in the Walcheren Campaign, were stricken with fever and not ready for service until July. Over the following months, the 5th Division was built around this brigade. [2]
Acting4 August 1810 Lieutenant-Colonel James Barnes [2]
Acting30 September 1810 Brigadier-General Andrew Hay [2]
16 October 1810 Major-General James Leith On this date, the division was officially formed, and Leith formally made the first general officer commanding [2]
Acting1 February 1811 Major-General James Dunlop [2]
26 February 1811 Major-General William Erskine [2]
Acting7 March 1811 Major-General James Dunlop [2]
223 April 1811 Major-General William Erskine [2]
Acting11 May 1811 Major-General James Dunlop [2]
Acting2 October 1811 Major-General George Walker [2]
11 December 1811 Major-General James Leith Leith was wounded in action during the Battle of Salamanca on 22 July 1812 [2]
Acting22 July 1812 Major-General William Pringle Assumed temporary command when Leith was wounded [3]
331 July 1812 Major-General Richard Hulse Hulse died of typhus on 7 September 1812 [4] [5]
Acting7 September 1812 Major-General William Pringle [4]
425 October 1812 Major-General John Oswald [4]
ActingJanuary 1813 Major-General Andrew Hay [6]
4April 1813 Major-General John Oswald [6]
130 August 1813 Major-General James Leith Leith was seriously wounded in action, during the Siege of San Sebastián on 31 August/1 September 1813 [7]
Acting1 September 1813 Major-General John Oswald Oswald was wounded during the Siege of San Sebastián on 31 August/1 September 1813 [8]
Acting9 October 1813 Major-General Andrew Hay [6]
5December 1813 Major-General Charles Colville [9]
Acting14 April 1814 Major-General Frederick Robinson When John Hope was captured at the Battle of Bayonne Colville took command of his corps, leaving Robinson in command of the division for a brief period. [10]
5April 1814 Major-General Charles Colville At the conclusion of the Peninsular War, in 1814, the division was disbanded in France. The final troops departed in June. [9]
611 April 1815 Lieutenant-General Thomas Picton On 11 April 1815, the division was reformed in Southern Netherlands. Following the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars, the British military in France was reorganised into three divisions. The remaining forces, including the 4th Division, were stood down. [11]
714 November 1899 Lieutenant-General Charles Warren Following the outbreak of the Second Boer War, the division was ordered to be formed on 9 November. Warren was appointed as commander five days later, and the division arrived in southern Africa the following month. [12] [13]
820 April 1900 Lieutenant-General Henry Hildyard At the end of 1900, while still in southern Africa, the division was broken-up. [14] [15]
914 May 1902 Major-General Leslie Rundle The division was reformed in Dover, England [16] [17]
1010 November 1903 Major-General Henry Grant [18]
111907 Major-General Herbert Plumer In 1907, the division was reformed in Ireland when the 7th Division was renumbered. [19] [20]
124 February 1909 Major-General William Campbell [21]
134 February 1913 Major-General Charles Fergusson Under Fergusson, the division mobilised for the First World War and moved to France in September 1914 and fought on the Western Front. [22] [23]
1418 October 1914 Major-General Thomas Morland [24]
1515 July 1915 Major-General Charles Kavanagh [24]
161 April 1916 Major-General Reginald Stephens [24]
174 July 1918 Major-General John Ponsonby At the end of the First World War, the division moved into Belgium where it demobilized. [25]
1827 October 1919 Major-General Hugh Jeudwine The division was reformed in Ireland, and took part in the Irish War of Independence. Following the conclusion of the war, there was no room for the division to be based in Northern Ireland and was disbanded in 1923. [26] [27]
1913 December 1929 Major-General Walter Kirke The division was reformed in England [19] [28]
2030 September 1931 Major-General Thomas Humphreys [29]
2130 March 1934 Major-General Geoffrey Howard [30]
2219 May 1937 Major-General Guy Williams [31]
Acting27 September 1938 Brigadier UnknownAn unknown interim commander looked after the division between Williams being appointed and Franklyn assuming command [32]
2320 December 1938 Major-General Harold Franklyn Under Franklyn, the division mobilized for service in the Second World War and moved to France in December 1939. Following the Battle of France, in mid 1940, the division was evacuated back to the UK. [33] [34]
2419 July 1940 Major-General Horatio Berney-Ficklin During Berney-Ficklin's tenure, the division was transferred to British India, Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Egypt, and Italy where it served during the Allied invasion of Sicily. [34]
253 August 1943 Major-General Gerard Bucknall The division fought in the Italian campaign [34]
2622 January 1944 Major-General Philip Gregson-Ellis [34]
Acting21 April 1944 Brigadier Lorne Campbell [34]
2629 April 1944 Major-General Philip Gregson-Ellis During Gregson-Ellis' tenure, the division returned to Egypt and Palestine. [34]
2724 November 1944 Major-General Richard Hull Under Hull, the division was transferred to northwest Europe, and took part in the Western Allied invasion of Germany. [34]
261946 Major-General Philip Gregson-Ellis [35]
28July 1947 Major-General John Churcher The division was disbanded in September 1947 [19] [36]
29April 1958 Major-General Geoffrey Musson The division was reformed, in Germany, when the 7th Armoured Division was renamed. In 1960, the division was renamed the 1st Division. [19] [37]
301 April 1968 Major-General Walter Thomas The division was reformed at Wrexham, England [19] [38]
315 March 1970 Major-General Mervyn Janes Janes relinquished command on 26 February 1971. Due to the demand to deploy troops to Northern Ireland, as part of The Troubles, the division was disbanded. [19] [39]
32April 1995 Major-General Ian Freer The division was reformed at Shrewsbury, England, when the Wales and Western District was redesignated. [40] [41]
3316 September 1996 Major-General Robin Searby [42]
3412 January 2000 Major General Peter Peterkin This marks the first time the Gazette does not use the hyphen between major and general. [43]
3520 December 2000 Major General Arthur Denaro [44]
3628 January 2003 Major General Nicholas Cottam [45]
379 March 2005 Major General Andrew Farquhar [46]
387 June 2008 Major General Martin Rutledge Rutledge held command until the division was disbanded for the final time in April 2012, as a result of the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2010, and retired shortly after. [47] [48]

Notes

  1. ↑ Haythornthwaite 2016, The Divisional System.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Reid 2004, p. 57.
  3. ↑ McGuigan & Burnham 2017, pp. 240–241.
  4. 1 2 3 Reid 2004, p. 58.
  5. ↑ McGuigan & Burnham 2017, p. 145.
  6. 1 2 3 Reid 2004, p. 59.
  7. ↑ Reid 2004, pp. 57, 59.
  8. ↑ Reid 2004, pp. 58–59.
  9. 1 2 Reid 2004, p. 59; Oman 1930, p. 513.
  10. ↑ McGuigan & Burnham 2017, pp. 246, 249.
  11. ↑ Weller 2010, p. 34; Siborne 1900, p. 786; Ross-of-Bladensburg 1896, pp. 49–50.
  12. ↑ Creswicke 1900, p. viii.
  13. ↑ "No. 27136". The London Gazette . 17 November 1899. p. 6906.
  14. ↑ Creswicke 1901.
  15. ↑ "No. 27201". The London Gazette . 12 June 1900. p. 3685.
  16. ↑ "No. 27436". The London Gazette . 23 May 1902. p. 3384.
  17. ↑ "War Office, Monthly Army List, July 1902". War Office. 1902. p. 8. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  18. ↑ "No. 27617". The London Gazette . 17 November 1903. p. 7033.
  19. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Lord & Watson 2003, pp. 34–35.
  20. ↑ "War Office, Monthly Army List, November 1908". War Office. 1908. p. 11a. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  21. ↑ "No. 28223". The London Gazette . 12 February 1909. p. 1111.
  22. ↑ "No. 28689". The London Gazette . 11 February 1913. p. 1057.
  23. ↑ Becke 1935, pp. 65, 70.
  24. 1 2 3 Becke 1935, p. 65.
  25. ↑ Becke 1935, pp. 65, 71.
  26. ↑ "No. 31666". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 November 1919. p. 14790.
  27. ↑ Cook et al. 1975, p. 132; Lord & Watson 2003, pp. 34–35.
  28. ↑ "No. 33562". The London Gazette . 20 December 1929. p. 8298. and "No. 33757". The London Gazette . 29 September 1931. p. 6235.
  29. ↑ "No. 33759". The London Gazette . 6 October 1931. p. 6394. and "No. 34038". The London Gazette . 3 April 1934. p. 2185.
  30. ↑ "No. 34041". The London Gazette . 13 April 1934. p. 2389. and "No. 34401". The London Gazette . 25 May 1937. p. 3368.
  31. ↑ "No. 34401". The London Gazette . 25 May 1937. p. 3368. and "No. 34557". The London Gazette . 30 September 1938. p. 6140.
  32. ↑ "No. 34557". The London Gazette . 30 September 1938. p. 6140.
  33. ↑ "No. 34586". The London Gazette . 3 January 1939. p. 58.
  34. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Joslen 2003, pp. 47–48.
  35. ↑ "Army Notes". Royal United Services Institution. 92:562 (562): 301. 1946. doi:10.1080/03071844609433934.
  36. ↑ "Obituaries: Major-General John Churcher". The Times. No. 65973. 20 August 1997.
  37. ↑ "No. 41306". The London Gazette (Supplement). 7 February 1958. p. 923.
  38. ↑ "No. 44558". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 March 1968. p. 3863. and "No. 45055". The London Gazette (Supplement). 6 March 1970. p. 2846.
  39. ↑ "No. 45055". The London Gazette (Supplement). 6 March 1970. p. 2846. and "No. 45322". The London Gazette (Supplement). 16 March 1971. p. 2269.
  40. ↑ Heyman 1997, p. 22; Lord & Watson 2003, pp. 34–35.
  41. ↑ "No. 53690". The London Gazette (Supplement). 6 June 1994. p. 8294.
  42. ↑ "No. 54526". The London Gazette . 16 September 1996. p. 12345.
  43. ↑ "No. 55735". The London Gazette (Supplement). 18 January 2000. p. 463.
  44. ↑ "No. 56078". The London Gazette (Supplement). 2 January 2001. p. 14611.
  45. ↑ "No. 56837". The London Gazette (Supplement). 4 February 2003. p. 1389.
  46. ↑ "No. 57583". The London Gazette (Supplement). 15 March 2005. p. 3165.
  47. ↑ Tanner 2014, p. 14.
  48. ↑ "No. 58723". The London Gazette (Supplement). 10 June 2008. p. 8684. and "No. 60137". The London Gazette (Supplement). 8 May 2012. p. 8884.

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References

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